Every two hours, keeping traffic at a stance, live bands engulfed the streets of Sucre with their music playing their favourite carnival songs.
People dumped buckets of water onto them from balconies up top and water bombs are thrown from all directions.
During the month of February, Bolivia is one of the countries in South America where the carnival takes more precedence over any other holiday during their yearly festivities. Most people here work throughout the year just to celebrate this special occasion, which can last up to a month. In the big cities, dances and colourful costumes take to the streets in big parades.
In the smaller communities, the elderly of the village in one group, dressed in their native clothing as well as the younger generation in another, dance from house to house inviting the others of their age to join the group while custom beer made out of corn is shared amongst them.
One small ounce of laziness while dancing will lead to a good whipping at the legs putting them back on their toes.
With Bolivia's streets are no longer a safe haven for the gringo (foreigner), being the main target to water bombs and soap spray cans, my usual 20 minute walk to work became a duck and run game. Bolivians rarely miss their shot and using the excuse that you are on your way to work only made it more tantalizing for them.
So rarely did I get anywhere without getting a little or entirely wet.
In the midst of the festivities, Guia Foundation only closed its doors for one week since numerous objectives had to be met, and preparations had to be made for the upcoming year.
With the approaching annual work fair, Camino al Futuro, a new radio project, and double the adolescents coming through the doors, there was no shortage of work.
With adolescents coming from social government run programs, very low-income households, or from mining areas who have lost their parents, a need is clearly in demand.
Poverty is such a force, and many adolescents suffer from the stress of supporting their families, due to the vicious cycle of abuse and alcoholism within their household.
Not only is employment and education a primary necessity but also one's basic needs to living such as food and rent.
The goal for Guia is to set up projects with the vision to make the foundation, only two years old, more sustainable in its own country. But the question remains, what does this city hold of value and with some added creativity could benefit the youth and be successful at generating money?
As tourism is picking up a little in Sucre, our first approach is to offer at low cost, Spanish classes to travellers passing through in an authentic way.
In a country where many businesses are run out of most people's homes, our classes will take on that same ambience with an interactive aspect to it such as cooking traditional foods of Bolivia and walking the markets.
In exchange, each traveller will have an opportunity to volunteer for other non-profit organizations that are in good standing with Guia Foundation.
Two months have passed and the sounds of the carnival no longer linger in the streets, but the realities of life in Bolivia still remain. If you would like to help in any way contact me at [email protected] and you can also visit Fundacion Guia on Facebook.com.
